Lori Dernavich – Interview

Lori Dernavich of Lori Dernavich LLC is a well respected business advisor who works with C-level executives, HR directors and boards to provide essential workplace performance solutions.

Over the past several years you have managed to pull off several changes to your consulting practice that had the potential of significantly hurting your business.  The first change that I would like to discuss was moving your business to a new geographic area.  What steps, if any, did you take to mitigate the impact on your business?

In general, my business is obtained via word of mouth, so networking is always near the top of my to-do list.  I lived in Boston, but had a couple of clients in NYC.  A few months before making the move to NYC, I made it a point to attend a variety of networking events so I could learn about the city and begin getting my name out to the public.  I reached out to my network and asked for introductions to friends, family, and colleagues in NY.  I said I was looking for help in getting my business established, but was also looking for friends. That really worked for me.  And despite its reputation, NY is incredibly friendly.  No one turns down a coffee or cocktail meeting, and they’re extremely generous at making introductions.  It could be the city itself – most people are not from here originally, so they are also looking to meet others for professional and personal reasons.   And I happen to think that New Yorkers stay out longer because they don’t want to go home to their 500sq ft. apartments!

In hindsight what suggestions might you offer another professional service provider who is contemplating moving their business away from their existing referral network?

Network like crazy. Ask your friends and colleagues for introductions.  Get on LinkedIn and reach out to people to ask for a meeting.  Attend networking events. Do free speaking engagements – they are an excellent way to build your network and to introduce yourself to the city.  I also recommend not committing to office space right away.  Get a cell number that will travel with you, because you may decide you want to conduct business in a different section of the city after you’ve become accustomed to the lay of the land.

The other significant change you implemented was to re-brand your company.  Why did you decided to re-brand your company?

Re-branding was a no-brainer for me.  When I moved to NY, I had to address my competition.  I didn’t want a forgettable company name or a cookie cutter website.  When I thought about my clients, none of them referred to me by my old company name.  They addressed me, Lori Dernavich.  So I thought it would be easy to drop the old company name and go with my name.  It worked.

Now that you have completed the re-branding process, do you have any lessons learned that you could share with others?

I absolutely credit my quick transition and success to my advisory board.  When I moved to NY, I created an advisory board right away.  I chose existing clients who I had built a trusted relationship with, past clients, friends, and colleagues.   I had 10 of them meet with me for 3 hours, the other 20 or so people received a survey via email.  I asked the following questions:

1. What does Lori do (and no cheating by looking at my website)?
2. What are her strengths personally and professionally?
3. What should she be doing (pie in the sky, no limits)?
4. How should she do it?
5. What are her obstacles and how does she get around them?

That validated my desire of rebranding myself and gave me a clear path to follow.  I also then walked away with almost 30 people who truly knew my business.  They were like my very own sales team.  I highly suggest an advisory board to everyone, whether you’re an entrepreneur or an individual trying to figure out how to move up in your career.

Turning to the economy; how has the current economic downturn impacted your business?

I would be lying if I told you the economy didn’t hurt my business.  Not only did the recession hit, but I was still relatively new to NY.  Last year was my worst year since starting my company in 2002.  Instead of worrying about it, I was familiar with the rollercoaster.  I never contemplated stepping back into the corporate world to take a FT job.  I think that kind of thinking can actually prevent success because your mind is in two camps – FT work or entrepreneurship. Instead, I invested a large chunk of money into hiring a PR firm.  They worked with me to get my articles into a variety of publications and they helped with my website.  Sure it wasn’t easy watching money go out and less come in, but it was one of the best things I ever did.  That initiative is precisely why this year is on track to be my best year ever.  Two very large contracts came out of my PR efforts.  You need to believe in yourself and invest in that belief.

You have managed to keep a high profile within the traditional media outlets such a print and television.  Have you begun to use any of the new media solutions such a Blogs, Facebook or Twitter?

I have embraced Twitter, although I will admit that I don’t like it. I just don’t have the time to be on it constantly.  I have met a couple of business people for coffee because of it.  And I’ve had invitations to be a guest blogger.  Still, I don’t want people to know what I had for breakfast, and I really am not interested in knowing what others are eating these days either.  I said I would give it a year, and I will probably continue tweeting, but it’s sporadic. I find I would much rather focus on getting speaking engagements and meeting people for real at a café.  As far as blogging goes, I do contribute to a monthly blog, but it’s not a priority.  I do have an idea in mind to start my own blog though – business with humor. Just need the time to get it going.

Your client list contains the name of many well recognized U.S. companies.  Clearly you do not have the marketing resources of the larger consulting firms, so how have you managed to compete so effectively with these firms?

I used to think I was in competition with larger consulting firms, but I don’t believe that anymore.  I found my niche.  I love companies with 2-800 people.  Companies that need to go from start-up mode to a more established and structured organization.  They don’t need the big consulting firms to do this. They usually just need some guidance and then someone to be nearby to keep them on track.  I’m that objective voice who acts as a confidant to the senior team.  Again, it would be overkill to hire a big consulting firm to do this work.  I often get called in during a crisis or big change, but end up on retainer because it makes sense strategically and financially for a small to mid-size company.

So what is next for Lori Dernavich, LLC?

Lately, I’ve been called in to work with failing mergers and acquisitions.  I perform an organizational assessment to uncover the reasons behind the failure and then partner with management teams to implement changes needed to turn the failure around.  Companies should be calling me on the day the M&A deal is struck to make sure the integration goes smoothly, but the truth is that they often wait until much damage is done before they call.  I love the work either way, because I am confident of my ability to turn issues around.

In addition to my for-profit business, I enjoy giving back to the community.  I am currently Chair of Step Up Women’s Network, an organization that brings professional women and teen girls together for mentoring and professional development.  Our goal is to work with teen girls from underserved areas of the city to get them college bound and career ready.